Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image data processing in which a first host processing system communicates with a respective storage system and a second host processing system communicates with a second storage system.
Devices for the real time storage of image frames, derived from video signals or derived from the scanning of cinematographic film, are disclosed in the present assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,9031. In the aforesaid patent, systems are shown in which image frames are stored at display rate by accessing a plurality of storage devices in parallel under a process known as striping.
Recently, there has been a trend towards networking a plurality of systems of this type. An advantage of connecting systems of this type in the network is that relatively low powered machines may be deployed for relatively simple tasks, such as the transfer of image frames from external media, thereby allowing the more sophisticated equipment to be used for the more processor-intensive tasks such as editing and compositing etc. However, a problem then exists in that data may have been captured to a first file storage system having a direct connection to a first processing system but, for subsequent manipulation, access to the stored data is required by a second processing system.